India First

The Potential of combining Aadhaar and Periodic Labour Survey Since about 45 years, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation under the Government of India has been conducting quinquennial Employment and Unemployment Surveys . These surveys are the primary data input to the government on labour force-related attributes, which in turn can guide the government in its employment-related decision-making. India is the largest democracy and the second most populated country in the world. It also has the largest population of young citizens. The government of any democracy is duty-bound to enable realisation of the aspirations of its population. And the pressure on the government is considerable when a huge percentage of the population is under 25 years of age. By having access to sample-based employment and unemployment data no more frequently than once every five years, a government in inherently heavily disadvantaged in assuming its role as an effective generator of ...

‘Lynchistan’ Protests – The New Award Vapsi Mob violence in the past During the morning of 31-Oct 1984, while I was in school in Delhi, one of my classmates mentioned that the there had been an attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister, but she was unharmed. My response was that of disbelief at the assassination attempt but as the day progressed in school, it was confirmed that the Prime Minister had indeed been shot at, and that she was in hospital. In spite of the conservative reporting by Doordarshan in those days, before evening it was known that the Prime Minister had breathed her last in the morning itself. The following morning newspapers reported that the car of the then President of India (a Sikh) was stoned as he returned from a foreign trip and his motorcade headed out of the airport. May be well worth asking how commoners wanting to express their anger against Sikhs in general, became aware of the President’s confidential itinerary. Or perhaps the report wa...